“Dulce
Domum,” loosely translated, means “Sweetly at home.” It conveys a sense
of comfort, of settlement, of wanting for little. Fittingly, somebody
long ago tattooed the phrase on the side of an incredibly well-equipped
and preserved 1929 Studebaker house car – complete with toilet, bathtub,
and the kitchen sink – that will head to auction later this month.

Though photos of the house car have floated around the Internet since 2009 or so,
little is known about its early history. Somebody – possibly Harvey
Firestone, though that part is apocryphal – obtained a Studebaker
commercial chassis (chassis number 3251731)
in its long 184-inch wheelbase version, typically found under buses.
Fitted with a 114hp, 337-cu.in. flathead straight-eight, four-speed
manual transmission, and dual rear wheels, it had the size and
sturdiness to handle a house-car conversion.

Its original owner then took the chassis to Advance Auto Body Works in Los Angeles, the shop that crafted designer W. Everett Miller’s Arrowhead, along with plenty of streamlined gas and oil delivery trucks for Gilmore.
Advance then gave it the full Pullman treatment: fold-out beds, wash
basin, camp stove, writing desk, chamber pot, plenty of storage, and the
bathtub built into the floor under a trap door. A tank and heater
provide running water, and a 12-volt electrical system powers the entire
vehicle. The conversion even includes an in-car intercom for speaking
to the driver.

How
long it remained with that original owner – and where it went – seems
to remain a mystery, but it remained in Southern California for the next
30 years or so, until collector Remy Baker bought it in 1961 in San
Bernardino, then drove it across the country, eventually parking it in
his collection in South Carolina. Baker then sold the Studebaker in 2006
to its current owner, who rebuilt the drivetrain and restored the
leaded glass windows but left everything else untouched.

Scheduled
to cross the block at Worldwide Auctioneers’ Houston Classic Auction,
the Studebaker has a pre-auction estimate of $125,000 to $175,000.

The
Houston Classic Auction will take place April 23 at La Toretta Lake
Resort and Spa in Montgomery, Texas. For more information, visit Worldwide-Auctioneers.com.

The 1937 C-1 Pickup helped Internationalrebound from the Great Depression.

Thank goodness for the 1937 International C-1 Pickup. Like virtually
the rest of American industry, International Harvester Company was in
dire straits during the Great Depression of the early 1930s. Consider
that in 1929 the company produced more than 50,000 trucks, but by 1932,
that total was down to about 17,400.

One strategy IH adopted to increase sales in those dark days was to
enter the light-duty market -- a strategy that would ultimately produce
the successful 1937 International C-1 Pickup.

The pressures of time and tight money worked against creating a new
design from scratch. The answer came from Willys-Overland. In very
unstable financial condition and eager to increase sales of its light
trucks, Willys manufactured a modified version of its 1/2-ton C-113
pickup and panel trucks that International marketed as the D-1. Though
built in Willys' Toledo, Ohio, plant, the D-1 sported its own radiator
and hood styling and used a larger-displacement version of the C-113's
six-cylinder engine.

The C-1s vee'd grille gaveit an up-to-the-minute look.

The D-1 served its intended purpose well. Thanks to its 12,200
units, calendar-year 1933 production of International trucks topped
30,100. But with Willys-Overland

now in receivership and its ability to meet International's needs uncertain, IH turned to a successor of its own design.

On the surface, the International C-1 Pickup was a completely new
truck. Cab styling was more rounded at the corners, and the
old-fashioned windshield visor of the D-1 was done away with. A vee'd
aluminum grille with a body-color shell and more-enveloping fenders with
skirts at their trailing edges were up-to-the-minute.
The 113-inch wheelbase, 213-cid six, and standard 4.18:1 axle ratio
of the D-1 were retained for the new truck, but there were significant
mechanical changes to distinguish the C-1 from its predecessor.

A longer 125-inch-wheelbase version of the chassis was added. The
propeller shaft gained roller-bearing joints, steering and brake
components were enhanced, and there were stronger springs with
redesigned shackles. The frame rails were made a half-inch deeper than
those used on the D-1.

Though displacement of the undersquare engine (3.31-inch bore by
4.13-inch stroke) was unaltered, output was increased to 78 horsepower
at 3,600 rpm, compared to 70 at 3,400 as developed in the D-1. The
compression ratio of the C-1 engine stood at 6.3:1.

Aside from the horsepower boost, the engine benefited from improved
ignition wiring. An L-head design with four main bearings, it used a
cast-iron block and solid valve lifters and breathed through a
single-throat downdraft carburetor. The engine worked through a
three-speed manual transmission activated by a floor-mounted lever.

The 1937 International C-1 Pickup featuredmore rounded styling.

C-1s were produced by IH at its plants in Springfield, Ohio, and
Chatham, Ontario, Canada (though the engines were manufactured by the
Wilson Foundry & Machine Company, of Pontiac, Michigan). Aside from
short-and long-bed pickups, factory-supplied bodies included panel,
open-side, and screen-side deliveries. Chassis/cowl units were
available, too, and International cataloged a "woody" station wagon with
bodies supplied by outside firms.

IH considered its factory-authorized body variations to be options,
so most stated prices are for the basic chassis/cowl. But the Standard
Catalog of American Light Duty Trucks cites a 1934 price of $545 for a
short-wheelbase pickup, which would have been $100 more than the chassis
alone. The 125-inch chassis cost $25 more than its shorter counterpart.

The 1937 C-1 also featured hydraulic brakes.

Apart from the arrival of hydraulic brakes in February 1936, the C-1
was produced with little change until April 1937, when it was
superseded by the D-2 series. In its three-year run, C-1 production came
to 76,820 vehicles.

The light-duty truck line proved to be a substantial part of IH's
business; in 1936, when production edged past 100,000 -- quite a jump
from dismal 1932 -- nearly a third of that total consisted of C-1s. All
the while, International was able to hold third place among American
truck producers.

The long-wheelbase pickup pictured here is one of the 6,639 C-1s
built in 1937 (274 of which came from the Canadian plant). It features
18-inch steel-spoke wheels (though wire wheels were also available) and
an extra-cost right-side taillight.